UAE world’s fastest growing market for theme parks: IAAPA

By

Wam

PublishedFriday, March 10, 2017

The theme parks in the UAE are dialling up the "smart" visitor experience to ensure the country remains one of the world’s fastest growing markets, industry experts announced today, ahead of the of the Dubai Entertainment, Amusement, and Leisure Show.

The UAE is the dominant market in the Middle East and North Africa, the world’s fastest growing region for theme park visitor spending, according to a report by the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA). The visitor spending at the UAE theme park is set to grow six-fold from US$105 million in 2016 to $637 million by 2020, the report stated.

"The UAE theme parks are on the cutting-edge of leveraging real-time information management technology to enhance the visitor experience. Millions of visitors will be able to use mobile apps to determine the ride wait period and order concessions, while operators can deliver dynamic peak and off-peak pricing, and enhance visitor safety and security," said Andrew Calthorpe, CEO at smart theme park consultancy Condo Protego, which has worked closely with numerous theme parks in the UAE over the past several years.

Market research firm PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that the UAE’s theme park visitors could account for nearly two-thirds of the UAE’s projected 30 million visitors by 2021.

Experts agreed the UAE’s theme parks are serving as ideal case studies for the advanced technology that will fuel the premier mega-event of Expo 2020 Dubai.

"Monitoring tens of thousands of daily visitors mean the UAE theme park operators need to have a mobile app, Big Data analytics, and data storage solutions that are always available, are cost-effective and can scale up to handle millions of more visitors annually," Calthorpe added.